Is OHT Effective?

OHT by the Numbers

Donors and supporters of Operation Hat Trick need to know how their donations and support positively affect the everyday lives of service members and veterans recovering from visible and invisible injuries. Your donations and support help fill the gaps in the care our injured service members and veterans need so they can resume living their lives to the fullest. Below are some examples of how OHT and its donors and supporters have impacted the lives of our heroes who return from war with many physical and emotional injuries.

They Promised to Defend. We Promise to Support.

MARSOC (U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command) is the Marine Corps service component to the U.S. Special Operations Command . Dating back to to the Marine Raiders of WWII, MARSOC trains,equips,and deploys task-organized, scalable,and responsive Raider teams in support of Combatant Commanders and other agencies. Raiders conduct foreign internal defense,special reconnaissance and direct action mission across the globe.Operation Hat Trick helps support the MARSOC Tragedy Assistance program through the MARSOC Foundation. In 2017, OHT’s donation provided the following for wounded and recovering active service members and veterans:

3 therapeutic mattress toppers for three very badly injured service members. These toppers help with severe back injuries.

1 recliner lift chair

Lodging for a Raider undergoing cancer treatment

Mentor support for a Raider who is now legally blind.

Operation Hat Trick is proud to be making a difference-one service member/veteran at a time.

The Adaptive Training Foundation exists to empower the human athlete, restore hope through movement and redefine the limits of individuals with disabilities. ATF creates customized training programs that RESTORE, RECALIBRATE, and REDEPLOY. One significant group at ATF is the Veterans group where often “broken”, depressed and pain filled veterans have given up hope that they will ever return to being a contributing member of society. ATF takes these veterans and through their specialized programs, teaches them how to achieve their weight, pain reduction, strength, flexibility, mobility and cardiovascular-goals giving them once again a sense of purpose.Operation Hat Trick has help fund the ATF Veterans program enabling them to grow and serve more of those in need

The Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans, MACV, is an organization that provides assistance to veterans and their families today and tomorrow and the need continues as veterans have returned home from Afghanistan and Iraq.Operation Hat Trick has specifically helped MACV in Duluth, MN with their homeless population and those veterans who suffer from PTSD.

2,000 inquiries for assistance each month are received by MACV offices, almost 25,000 annually

Over 1,800 veterans were directly assisted with comprehensive services

Since 1990 MACV has been able to help 10,000 veterans and their families

As one veteran commented, “Words cannot express what your help has done for me and my family. I am not use to asking for help,but you put my fears to rest and I now have hope in my heart”.

Northeast Passage – Through a partnership with NEP and their PATH program, which helps recovering veterans throughout New England acclimate back into society, OHT pays for part-time staff enabling the program to grow from five clients to 68 in two years. Thanks to PATH and OHT, John, a former sniper and sharpshooter with a career-ending shoulder injury and PTSD, was able to leave his home where he had been a recluse and join archery classes. OHT paid for a custom-made bow that allowed John to replicate his sharpshooting skills and return to being a productive member of his community.

Semper Fi Fund – Because of donors like you, the Semper Fi Fund has helped thousands of service members over the past 13 Yrs. There are still many more military families who need equipment, resources, and mentorship. Your ongoing financial support is essential to our efforts. You continue to be a catalyst for change in the lives for our service members and their families and we sincerely thank you for your dedication to those in need. You’ve helped us uphold our sacred responsibility to care for those injured or ill while in service to our Nation. In small part OHT has helped us provide the following:

741 Critical Care Illness Support grants

902 Caregivers Retreats grants

1,169 PTSD/TBI grants

141 Adaptive Home and Modifications and Repairs/Equipment grants

254 Veteran Reunions

737 Canine Companions grants

Yellow Ribbon Fund – The Yellow Ribbon Fund is a national organization based in Washington, D.C. that fills the needs of wounded and recovering service members and their families while the service member is in the hospital. OHT has contributed to 220 requests for assistance. While service members and veterans are in the hospital being treated for their injuries, they and their families have significant needs. Families move into the area while their loved one is being treated (they can be in the hospital area for up to a year or more) and often need access to transportation, temporary living accommodations, etc.

Veterans Count – Veterans Count is a division of Easter Seals. Veterans Count provides recovering veterans with emergency assistance in 24 to 48 hours. This assistance includes food, rent, fuel, counseling and more. Since its inception 10 years ago,VC’s services to the military has been significant and extremely impactful. In some small way,OHT has helped make a difference with:

5,138 service members,veterans,and their families (10,145 individuals) were served

Ironstone Farm – Ironstone Farm operates an equine program designed to help homeless veterans attend retreats and work with horses during their recovery from substance abuse, PTSD, and other effects of war. OHT established a three-year fellowship with Ironstone Farm where staff has been hired to promote, implement and manage this program.The program’s first attendee is now substance free, employed, in a relationship, and has his own apartment that he shares with his dog.Outreach from the program resulted in a local police chief, who is a veteran, adopting this program for his first responders who are also veterans. After continued meetings with other police and fire chiefs in the area, they have proposed making this a mandatory program for all veterans who graduate from there academies. Forty percent of those who graduate from the police and fire academies are veterans.

Steve – Steve has PTSD and lost the last three jobs he held. Badly needing a service dog, something the government and his benefits do not pay for, Steve was able to raise some of the funds on his own. He received grants from Semper Fi and The Yellow Ribbon Fund, but was still could not afford the hefty price of a service dog. Steve then reached out to OHT to offset the $33,000 cost of training and purchasing a service dog. Through a partnership with the Yellow Ribbon Fund, OHT was able to donate the remainder of the money Steve needed to get the service dog he needed and deservedSteve said to OHT: “Your generous donation has allowed me to quit worrying about how to finish paying for my service dog and focus on the training that will allow him to help me reintegrate back into society. Thank you so much for giving me this peace of mind.”

Armed Forces YMCA – The Armed Force YMCA at the Naval Hospital in San Diego is designed to help service members recovering from the visible and invisible wounds of war. Everyday items like shoes for prosthetic legs or food for the simulated kitchens where arm amputees go to learn how to peel an apple or cut a potato are not provided by current benefits. Treatment goes far beyond shoes and food in a simulated environment, however. As patients begin to recover they need therapeutic care, fine and gross motor skills training, mental health services throughout patient, and many suffering from PTSD and TBI are in need of service dogs. Together this is where OHT and the Armed Forces YMCA have been able to fill some of those gaps in coverage. OHT has contributed to the YMCA’s efforts, which have provided assistance with in-patient and therapeutic services to 17,278 and recreational services to almost 3,154 more. It has also provided items such as adaptive clothing and gasoline cards to 2000-plus veterans, making up for gaps in their benefits

OHT continues to be effective

Show veterans that their lives off the battlefield are just as important to our country as their service on it.